"SEMPO is proud to be delivering this seventh edition of its annual State of Search Survey Report. We’ll let the report and the data contained in the following pages and charts speak for itself, and hope that in turn it spurs dialogue among its readers as we seek as an organization to help our industry learn and grow through better understanding of the changes/challenges that are constantly upon us. With that in mind, here are a few thoughts to help put the data into context:
- Seven years of data provides a solid retrospective base to see how far the industry has come—particularly in terms of tactical usage and investment. We have strived to maintain longitudinal integrity in this regard while still providing opportunity for probing new developments, e.g., Google Instant and the Microsoft/Yahoo Search Alliance this past year.
- We have also started looking for insight on future developments and this year’s report leads with the emerging trends and technologies search marketers feel will have an impact on the industry in the coming year(s). We feel this predictive component also helps marketers do a better real-time assessment of where they are and where they may want to be in this highly competitive space.
- The depth and breadth of participation in this survey can not be understated as a key element of its value. With participants from 66 different countries, and with only half of the total respondents coming from the United States, this report represents the true global nature, reach and impact of the search marketing industry.
- We continue to be unique in our approach to the survey by inviting participation from both advertisers and agencies and then presenting the results in segmented fashion to allow for comparison and contrast. Regardless of which side of the aisle you are on, we encourage you take advantage of the perspective being offered by your compatriots and your counterparts.
Finally, thank you to all who participated in this year’s survey. Your voice is what makes this such a valuable report year after year.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Introduction to SEMPO 2011 State of Search Survey
SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, released its annual State of Search Survey today. As the lead for this initiative, I’d like to share the “introduction” I wrote for the report as it captures the overall value and spirit of this survey and SEMPO as an industry thought leader. In future posts, I will delve into the interesting stories the data is telling about how the digital pull of search and social media are continuing to be integrated in marketing efforts overall.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Measuring the Changes in Marketing Measurement
Living in the world of pay-per-click as I do, I don’t hear much about reach and frequency these days. I got to thinking about my past life as a media buyer and planner — actually several past lives ago — when the bulk of my days were spent crunching numbers and making forecasts about the behaviors of the people underneath those data points.
Then along with so many others (well, truthfully, ahead of many others) I shifted to the world of digital marketing (1986 was early in). By 1997, most marketers had gotten over the “wow” of having a website and the demand for meaning came into play. Measuring website traffic was all the rage and driving traffic from various points on the web became the yard stick (and a booming business).
Back then, measurement was all about the clicks. And it stayed that way for a few years until we collectively hit another tipping point, about a year or so ago, when it stopped being about the interim action (the click) and attention was shifted to beyond-the-traffic data. Business actions — leads, orders, donations, inquiries, patient visits –whatever next step the marketer was pursuing — became the measure du jour.
Notice how I didn’t say “end result?”
That’s because now we’ve collectively begun to focus on the real value of getting a potential buyer to pay attention. And the website isn’t the only place we’re factoring those values. As the role of social in the marketing mix increases, companies are also beginning to look at their customer data differently.
They’re starting to see that web analytics and CRM solutions that work together to seamlessly pull, organize, and report on the results of marketing activities, online and off — are no longer an option — they’re business necessities. We’re less excited about one-hit wonders that create lots of activity but no ongoing business value. Questions about the real long term value of viral buzz (The Old Spice Guy) and Groupon et al abound.
Fully utilizing measurement systems will enable marketers to get much better at predicting the lifetime value of the customers that marketing pulls into their brand’s sphere of influence. It will also help marketers get at the insights that will enable them to do more of the marketing that is generating those closes. And maybe we’ll stop calling them “closes” and start thinking of them as “opens,” as in “open doors” to continued relationship building, organic business growth, and the ongoing dialogue that facilitates them.
Social media engagement is seldom a component in the measurement tools conversation, one tending to be right brain and the other the left. But if you think about the streams of business drivers that keep flowing towards the sea, merging and moving forward faster as they near the ocean of business exchange, you see that the convergence of social media conversations with customers and success measurement tools is a natural one. It’s also a required next step in the measurement continuum.
The convergence of social media engagement and tech tools to measure success not only makes delivering, engaging with, and tracking customer activity better. It provides the very conversation and data needed to create a circular effect of improved Marketing (big “M”) all the way around.
So reach and frequency became traffic became clicks became business actions became closes and is on track to become “opens.” And then?
Let’s keep on innovating and we’ll see what comes next.
This was originally posted to the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) Blend Blog on 3/23/11. For more posts from senior marketing executives, check out the MENG Blend at http://blog.mengonline.com/
Then along with so many others (well, truthfully, ahead of many others) I shifted to the world of digital marketing (1986 was early in). By 1997, most marketers had gotten over the “wow” of having a website and the demand for meaning came into play. Measuring website traffic was all the rage and driving traffic from various points on the web became the yard stick (and a booming business).
Back then, measurement was all about the clicks. And it stayed that way for a few years until we collectively hit another tipping point, about a year or so ago, when it stopped being about the interim action (the click) and attention was shifted to beyond-the-traffic data. Business actions — leads, orders, donations, inquiries, patient visits –whatever next step the marketer was pursuing — became the measure du jour.
Notice how I didn’t say “end result?”
That’s because now we’ve collectively begun to focus on the real value of getting a potential buyer to pay attention. And the website isn’t the only place we’re factoring those values. As the role of social in the marketing mix increases, companies are also beginning to look at their customer data differently.
They’re starting to see that web analytics and CRM solutions that work together to seamlessly pull, organize, and report on the results of marketing activities, online and off — are no longer an option — they’re business necessities. We’re less excited about one-hit wonders that create lots of activity but no ongoing business value. Questions about the real long term value of viral buzz (The Old Spice Guy) and Groupon et al abound.
Fully utilizing measurement systems will enable marketers to get much better at predicting the lifetime value of the customers that marketing pulls into their brand’s sphere of influence. It will also help marketers get at the insights that will enable them to do more of the marketing that is generating those closes. And maybe we’ll stop calling them “closes” and start thinking of them as “opens,” as in “open doors” to continued relationship building, organic business growth, and the ongoing dialogue that facilitates them.
Social media engagement is seldom a component in the measurement tools conversation, one tending to be right brain and the other the left. But if you think about the streams of business drivers that keep flowing towards the sea, merging and moving forward faster as they near the ocean of business exchange, you see that the convergence of social media conversations with customers and success measurement tools is a natural one. It’s also a required next step in the measurement continuum.
The convergence of social media engagement and tech tools to measure success not only makes delivering, engaging with, and tracking customer activity better. It provides the very conversation and data needed to create a circular effect of improved Marketing (big “M”) all the way around.
So reach and frequency became traffic became clicks became business actions became closes and is on track to become “opens.” And then?
Let’s keep on innovating and we’ll see what comes next.
This was originally posted to the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) Blend Blog on 3/23/11. For more posts from senior marketing executives, check out the MENG Blend at http://blog.mengonline.com/
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